Mike’s Scary Movie Challenge: Found Footage For Days
Found footage movies might not be for everyone, but I love them.
Seriously, what’s not to like about a movie that makes you feel like you’re right in the middle of the action?
Luckily for me there were plenty of found footage horror flicks to choose from and I still have a ton of catching up to do on this challenge.
Strap in, kiddies. It’s gonna be a shaky ride.
#5 The Taking Of Deborah Logan (October 6th — Netflix)
If you weren’t already afraid of old people, this movie might help.
The Taking Of Deborah Logan has a lot of effective scares and Jill Larson is guaranteed to give you nightmares with her incredibly creepy performance.
Just look at the picture above and tell me that doesn’t send shivers down your spine.
The movie definitely lost me a bit with its bizarre finale, but overall I had a lot of fun watching it and it’s definitely worth checking out if you have Netflix.
#6 The Bay (October 9th — Amazon)
Ever wonder what it would be like if a small town was almost completely wiped out by an unknown virus in less than 24 hours?
Me neither, but I imagine it would probably look a lot like this.
If you’re the type of person who obsessively checks WebMD any time you get sick, you should stay far, far away from this movie.
#7 The Gallows (October 10th — HBO Go)
There’s really not many great things to say about The Gallows.
There are plenty of loud and cheap jump scares, the characters are so annoying you’ll pretty much be rooting for them to die, and the twist at the end is pretty lame.
At the end of the day I really didn’t hate this movie as much as I thought I would, but I’m definitely glad I didn’t pay money to see it.
#8 The Visit (October 10th — Red Box)
Seriously, when did old people become so terrifying?
I had an absolute blast watching The Visit, which is pretty surprising considering it was directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
The kids were fantastic, Deanna Dunagan was terrifying as the grandmother, and I even got a little choked up at the end.
This is easily one of my favorite movies I’ve watched so far for this challenge.
#9 Diary Of The Dead (October 11th — Google Play)
There comes a point in most found footage movies where you start to wonder why the characters are still filming when their lives are on the line.
The problem with Diary Of The Dead is the whole movie is like that, and that’s not an accident.
George A. Romero spends so much time criticizing society’s obsession with recording and filming violence that he completely forgot to make his movie scary or even interesting.
I had fairly high hopes for this movie but it turned out to be a pretty big disappointment.
#10 Chernobyl Diaries (October 12th — Amazon)
It turns out Chernobyl Diaries isn’t actually a found footage movie at all, but I didn’t know that before I paid $4 to watch it so here we are.
This shaky cam flick actually has a pretty cool premise as a group of tourists head to Pripyat, a town that was completely abandoned overnight after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
The setting is already incredibly creepy and things really start to pick up when our protagonists realize they’re not alone in this ghost town.
#11 Willow Creek (October 13th — Shudder)
See that picture above? That’s from a scene where we get to watch our two campers sit in their tent and listen to strange noises for more than 20 minutes.
I know that because I went back and counted.
That means this one incredibly boring scene takes up 25% of this otherwise entertaining Blair Witch Project knockoff.
I definitely wouldn’t say I hated Willow Creek, but there are a ton of scenes where nothing happens and that was a bit of a bummer.
#12 Apartment 143 (October 13th — Shudder)
Apartment 143 really is just a cheap Paranormal Activity knockoff.
We see a lot of security cam footage of furniture moving on its own and all of the characters are pretty much the worst.
There are some fun scenes when the shit really starts to hit the fan and we actually get to see the action, but overall this movie doesn’t really bring anything new to the table.
